Mondelēz International, PepsiCo and pladis are participating in a nationwide Belgian pilot, examining whether hidden digital watermarks can help solve a key operational challenge in circular food packaging.
The exercise will measure how the watermarking system works on wrappers, films and other plastic food packs gathered through Belgium’s household recycling collections.
If sorting equipment can determine whether a pack previously contained food, the method could allow more precise recycling flows and show what would be required for wider use.
A digital watermark is an unseen code applied across the packaging surface during printing.
In this pilot, Digimarc watermarks are detected by specialised sorting machines, allowing operators to identify features including material type and whether the packaging had been used for food.
The pilot forms part of HolyGrail 2030 – Circular Packaging Consortium, facilitated by AIM – European Brands Association, which includes 79 local, European and global companies and organisations working on intelligent sorting and recycling technologies.
Mondelēz International European R&D packaging productivity and sustainability manager Richard Akkermans said: "HolyGrail 2030 is a pivotal, cross-industry initiative for better sorting and recycling of flexible packaging in the EU.
“In order to be ready for the ambitious recycled content targets in the upcoming EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, this market demonstration aims to provide the real-life technical learning that the value chain needs to increase the availability, compatibility and affordability of recycled plastic coming from new technologies."
In Belgium, the sorting trials are being run by Fost Plus, the body responsible for the recycling and reuse of packaging waste.
Sorted film bales are transported from Belgium to Hündgen Entsorgungs’ sorting centre in Germany, where high-resolution cameras supplied by machine vendor Pellenc ST scan the digital watermarks.
The pilot comes ahead of requirements under the new European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which from 2030 introduces recycled content rules for some types of plastic food packaging, including a 10% minimum recycled content threshold for certain contact-sensitive applications.
PepsiCo global foods R&D senior packaging sustainability manager Dominika Maruszak-Dankbaar said: “Flexible plastic packaging remains one of the more complex areas of packaging circularity, and progress will require collaboration across the entire value chain.
“Through HolyGrail 2030, PepsiCo is working alongside partners to explore how digital watermarking could support more effective sorting and help generate the real-world insights needed to evaluate pathways towards more circular packaging systems.”
